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Film review

Gender gap

Felicity Huffman's Oscar-worthy performance in Transamerica outdistances what is a rather pedestrian road-movie plot.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published January 26, 2006

	[Weinstein Co.]
	Toby (Kevin Zegers), left, doesn’t know that the woman he knows as Bree (Felicity Huffman) is his father.

Dressing in drag is a performance stunt any actor can master, and perhaps even win awards for doing. What Felicity Huffman accomplishes in Transamerica is something else entirely, a second degree of separation from reality making her portrayal of Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne one of the most remarkable turns in recent memory.

That may be momentarily confusing. Huffman is a woman, and Sabrina is a woman's name, so what's the big deal?

The twist is that Bree isn't completely a woman yet. She's one operation away from completing gender reassignment, leaving behind the Stanley Osbourne of her birth. Huffman is playing almost a man, almost a woman and almost overshadows everything else in Duncan Tucker's movie.

This isn't just makeup and prosthetics. Huffman channels the awkwardness of one gender adapting to another; her feminine characteristics slightly too girlish to be authentic. Then there's the voice, a perfectly modulated blend of masculine and feminine tones that must be managed every second. Above all, there's the way Bree must constantly remind herself to do things so she'll be accepted as a woman, subtle adjustments Huffman underplays to perfection.

If there's a better performance by a woman for Oscar voters to consider this year, I haven't seen it.

Huffman's transcendent performance deserves a showcase just as adventurous, but Tucker doesn't quite provide one. Transamerica is merely another road movie with an assortment of colorful, kind, disapproving or decadent travelers met along they way. Some episodes fall flat while others, such as Bree's potential romance with a horseman (Graham Greene) end much too soon. Tucker adds too much flavor to a film Huffman already spices up enough.

The reason for Bree's road trip is the first needless stretch. Her emotional counselor (Elizabeth Pena) won't sign a release for surgery until all remnants of Stanley are resolved. That includes a troubled teenage son named Toby (Kevin Zegers), whom Bree didn't know she fathered with an experimental one-night stand. Toby's mother is dead, his stepfather is abusive, and he has been arrested as a sex hustler in New York.

Bree flies from Los Angeles to New York expecting a quick resolution. Bail out the boy, give him a few dollars and return for the operation. But Toby also wants to go to L.A. to begin a porn-movie career, so they buy a car and head west. Toby doesn't know Bree is his biological father; he thinks she's just another church lady trying to save his soul.

Anything that can sustain the trip and Bree's secret falls into place like clockwork. That the father and son will reach mutual understanding is inevitable. Of course, Bree's disapproving parents (Fionnula Flanagan, Burt Young) live along the way to Los Angeles, so a volcanic visit can be expected. Tucker keeps the mood lighter than Bree's predicament suggests, although sometimes the jokes undermine her obvious sadness.

Everything to recommend about Transamerica is found in Huffman's extraordinary performance and her supporting cast's reactions to each brilliant moment. Hers is a completely unique experience for viewers, an immersion into someone who isn't even himself anymore. It may be merely a stunt but it's an impressive one.

- Steve Persall can be reached at 727 893-8365 or persall@sptimes.com

Grade: B

Director: Duncan Tucker

Cast: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Graham Greene, Fionnula Flanagan, Burt Young, Carrie Preston, Elizabeth Pena

Screenplay: Duncan Tucker

Rating: R; sexual situations, frontal nudity, strong profanity, drug abuse

Running time: 103 min.

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 10:09:06]